


Bound by Blood and Written in Fire

by Lynn_Nexus



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Blood Bond, F/M, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-02 13:06:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13318758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynn_Nexus/pseuds/Lynn_Nexus
Summary: Everything seems to go wrong for Megamind.  It's well tread territory for him.  But never in his life has he stumbled so hard that his bad luck brought others down with him.  If there was ever anyone he hoped wouldn't have his bad luck rub off on, it was Roxanne Ritchie, now he'll do anything to save her from him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [write your name in fire on my skin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6313348) by [setepenre_set](https://archiveofourown.org/users/setepenre_set/pseuds/setepenre_set). 



> Sooooo... All hail setepenre_set? I loved their story buuut? I hate name tattoos with a passion that is (really honestly) unreasonable. Plus I wanted to do a more... Biological ritual thing? There's a bunch that's borrowed and or bastardized from their story, so... You may wanna just go read their story if you haven't (If you haven't why not? Seriously. Set's amazing. Go. My crap will wait.)
> 
> Also, sorry about the POV madness... I've been writing this for a while and it's... Well it's a bit jumbled.

It was a glorious disaster. Everything that could have gone wrong had. The machine he'd made blew up. Roxanne was in the blast radius. He was even closer. Before he could lift up she'd run over. He assumed she was going to hit him, add insult and pointy toed shoes to his injury. But she fell to her knees next to him. “Megamind?!” She questioned, leaning over him. “Fuck.... Oh Fuck!” She squealed at the small piece of the machine poking out of his chest. He was assessing the damages to his body when she clamped her hand over the sharp little bit of the machine. He knew the very moment she cut herself on it, the very moment her blood mingled with his. He had never considered what might happen if someone accidentally mixed their blood with him, because who in their right mind thought about that? He had only the vaguest inclination of what was going on, like a ritual that you made up in your sleep. All the same he felt something curl around his soul and his eyes grew impossibly large.

For him it was almost pleasant. Feeling the blood charge through him, his blood on fire. It felt like the burn in your muscles after a good run or scratching a particularly persistent itch. It ached all over but the point of contact burned. He reached over and ripped the bit of metal out, thankfully it hadn't gotten past his ribs. Yea that hurt, but when he looked down he saw the curls of a mark. No, No that's not possible. She's a human. She's not like him. This was... This was something natural to him, he didn't know what it really was but he could feel her, feel the panic she was feeling like hearing the tone in someone's voice even if you didn't hear the words. They were bonded? How was it that he felt like there was more? Something wasn't quite right, everything was dull like it was made of clouds, some of it should be sharp. It made his stomach flip, he wanted... wanted to press his hand to her heart just like she'd done to him. To make them a full circle. To accept it.

Roxanne pulled her hand away like he was a live wire. He had metal sticking out of his chest and it didn't matter to her at the moment she ran over if he was her kidnapper, he was always nice-ish to her and he was hurt. She'd put her hand over his wound to try and put pressure on it and the metal had cut her palm. It hadn't been something she thought about until there was pain lancing up her arm. Now something that felt like panic and fire ran through her. She gripped her hand, her thumb at the base of the palm as though she could cut some connection to the pain by pressing the veins closed. The pressure didn't help. She realized belatedly that she was making a strangled noise, long and loud. “What the hell... Fuck that hurts... What the... Shit!” She was quickly becoming more frantic as the pain crawled up her arm towards her chest. There was purple on her palm, a strange curl of color on her hand. Megamind shifted up with a wince and she saw some of the same purple on his chest. He'd pulled the metal out and was looking at her with shock. 

“What happened? What did you do?” She hissed at him, quickly losing her grip on what she knew had already happened. “What is this?!” She questioned angrily, holding her palm out to him, purple decorated her skin, already curling down towards her wrist in delicate, elegant lines. He blinked and looked down at the similar lines on his chest. The pain spiked at that moment and her other hand clamped around her wrist, a shrill noise escaped her and he lunged forward with his own confused and worried sounds. She was feeling light headed with pain as he gripped her arm. “Miss Ritchi...” He started and she looked up, her vision swam but she wanted to hear what he was going to say. He looked worried. “Can't you stop?” She slurred as he tried to explain to her but she couldn't understand him. Minion's voice was somewhere near by but the world was tilting to the side and everything was gray. Her pulse thundered in her ears and she tried to breath. She couldn't get enough air in her lungs. Gray turned charcoal, turned black and there was nothing.

The accusation was painful, turned the pleasant hum in his blood sour and the fire vicious. As she clutched her arm to her chest he grabbed her, steadied her. “Miss Ritchi. I... I'm not sure. It seems to be a physiological reaction to our blood mixing. I... I know you're panicked. Please... Try to breath... No... Don't pant... Deep breaths... You're... You're going to pass out!” Minion was calling out to him in the distance, but Megamind couldn't bother to look up to see his friend, his eyes fixed on her. “Sir you're hurt! What's wrong with Miss Ritchi?!” The woman was quickly hyperventilating and he tried to coax her into slower, deeper breaths but she swayed and fell backwards in spite of his attempts. He scooped her up, ignoring the pain in his chest. “Minion! Get the car!” There was frantic dashing, maybe he should have had Minion carry her but he couldn't bring himself to let go of her. Once in the car Minion turned and looked over into the back seat where he had her. Her breathing shallow, her temperature was elevated, she was pale and the mark was bright and angry looking. He inspected the mark on her hand and writ. The skin burned under his fingers, she was too hot.

“Sir?” Minion waited patiently for orders or for an explanation. “H... Hospital...” She was having some kind of adverse reaction. Perhaps allergic? His mind ran through all the possibilities but there was something crushing about the idea that his body had caused her to be in pain. Her breathing was still so slow and shallow. Her eyes opened ever so slightly and his breath caught. “Roxanne? Can you hear me?” She groaned and ran her nails sharply over the mark on her wrist. “Hurts...” He scrambled to stop her from clawing at it more. He wasn't sure what her bloodying it would do but he sure as hell wasn't interested in watching it happen. “I know. I'll fix it for you... I'll help you. It was an accident.” Minion looked nervously over his shoulder as traffic forced them to slow. “Sir! What's that?” The fish asked looking pointedly over at the little bit of exposed chest. Megamind clamped a hand over the hole and growled softly. “I'm not sure Minion, but I have to figure it out quickly.” He'd been counting how long it was between her breaths and she'd gone far too long without one. Her lips were turning colors, pale and almost blue.

He rarely used curse words but he let a few pour out as he slid to his knees in the back of the car. “Dammit to fucking hell... MINION! Get us there NOW!” He was facing her and he went through the motions. Check for pulse, tip head back, open mouth, clear airway if obstructed, exhale. CPR was difficult to administer in the back of a speeding vehicle but he managed and by the time Minion came to a screeching halt in front of the ER. Megamind twisted the watch, not caring what disguise came up. A middle aged man carried the reporter into the ER. At the sight of a woman limp in arms the room came alive. “I had to administer CPR.” He spun the story quickly. “I found her laying there like she was... She stopped breathing so I helped her...” He was asked questions but as they trundled her off he felt that cloudy feeling become even more foggy. He kept tabs on what was going on. Spied on the doctors, listened to their conversations. All he found out was that she wasn't doing particularly well.

~~

Roxanne woke in a hospital bed. The TV told her she'd been out cold for the better part of a week. With only dream like memories of the last week she tried to find out more from the staff. A man had brought her in after the... What had he called it? Doom engine? She couldn't remember at the moment. She felt like someone had pumped cotton balls into her brain. She'd passed out after she got cut? Megamind... Was he ok? He'd had a chunk of machine in his chest... There was no news of a new plot on the TV so she tried to calm herself about it. There was some kind of low level dread like cotton candy made from arsenic in the back of her mind. She'd had flue like symptoms for days. They put her on saline and ran a bunch of tests but never found any sort of pathogen or disease. They told her she was weak but she didn't feel that bad. She felt like she would be ok even if she wasn't right now. Another week and she didn't see Megamind. They took her breathing tube out finally. They had insisted that she slept too shallowly, that she didn't breath right when she was sleeping but finally they took the damn thing out. 

At the two week mark she felt fine, as fine as could be expected when you're not allowed to get up or walk more than down the hall. She was really quite close to just walking out. When she brought it up to a nurse the nurse had patted her patronizingly. “Oh hun... We're not sure what happened to you and aren't you safer here? I mean... That... Megamind hasn't tried to kidnap you even once since you came here.” That had been just about enough. They took the monitors off her earlier that week, all she had left was the IV. They'd had Metro Man bring her some things from her apartment which he'd done gladly. She had some comfortable clothes and had watched while they had disconnected the IV so she could pull clothes over her head. Alone she pushed the buttons and was able to disconnect the thing. She pulled a shirt on and slipped out of her room in less than the five minutes it took for the thing to start bitching that she was disconnected. She hadn't had time to pull the port out, she just needed to get out. Realizing that she was trapped there needlessly had been the last nail, the thing that broke her.

She couldn't go home though, they'd check her home first. Why couldn't Megamind be out looking for her or have come and gotten her? She was glad it wasn't too cold out. She was still chilled to the bone, even though she knew it was late spring and should have been fairly warm. Before she took the saline drip off she'd thought it was because of that but now she didn't know why there was bone chilling cold in her right arm. She looked at the hand that had been injured. Purple. Like a delicate, beautiful tattoo, there were scrawling purple lines that swept and dipped, thinned and thickened like calligraphy. It formed a roughly triangular shape as it spread towards the corners of her wrists and arched towards her arm. She ran her fingers over it and felt a swell of sadness. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, just went. Megamind had some purple on him too, purple like this. She'd seen it before she passed out. She wondered if it was as pretty as the purple on her wrist. 

She let her hands fall to her sides. She was near the waterfront, next to a long brick wall. She sighed and ran her fingers along the graffitied wall. Her hand ran up a pillar separating the sections of brick and she reached out to touch the next section but felt nothing. She nearly fell in when her hand passed through the brick. Her eyes widened. Was there anyone _other_ than Megamind who would make a holographic wall to hide an entrance? Well maybe but she had a gut feeling about this. As soon as she passed through the wall she knew she was right. Her heart picked up but the feeling of sadness ached in her. The cold reached out from her arm across her chest as she moved through the building. 

She almost cried out as she saw his big leather chair with his legs sticking out under it. She moved slowly towards him. She hadn't been sleeping well at the hospital, she thought it was because they kept checking on her every few hours. The oppressive weight of tired crept across her mind as she looked up at what he was working on. She stood next to him in silence for a long time. Whatever it was, it was important, but dangerous. She heard him speak. “Are you going to taunt me or tease me this time?” He asked, his voice devoid of his usual spark. She frowned at him and he looked up at her with hollow eyes. “Oh, not talkative this time? That's fine. That'd make you feel too real. God you feel real this time.” She blinked as he turned back to the screen. She felt real? _This_ time? What the hell was he talking about? He looked like he hadn't been getting any sleep. Was he sick?

Like a low hum that was slowly being turned up she wanted to touch him. She wanted to feel his skin against hers and she was starting to feel weak with the want, like it was becoming a need. He was wearing one of his suits without the mantle. She gave in and set her hand on his shoulder but it wasn't enough and he hissed as her wrist throbbed with her need to touch him. He pushed his hand against his chest. “Shit. I'll have to check on you in the hospital. You must be... angry or hurting or something...” She cocked her head at him as her wrist throbbed again. Something about him not paying attention to her made her sad and frustrated, especially with him talking to her like she was somewhere else. Roxanne found herself all but falling into his lap, her legs a mess after the long walk and weeks of time not using them more than a few steps. She sighed in contentment once she was settled and curled into his cheek. “What? Oh... I really must need sleep. Didn't think I was to the point of wish fulfillment...” He muttered and she sunk into him as he ran his hands through her hair. He was paying attention to her now and it felt like _breathing_. She leaned into his chest and nuzzled into his neck and he moaned softly at her before scooting closer to the keyboard, holding her with one arm like she was. He kept working over her. She started to drift off to sleep, curled into the crook of his neck. He'd occasionally speak, soft comforting tones. “Don't worry Roxanne, I'll fix it. No mater what, I'll fix it.”

The sound of metal feet is what stopped her from actually sleeping. She'd just started to get to sleep, just to the part where your head falls and your whole body is lax. His hand fell away and he acted like she wasn't there again and it hurt. She whined softly at him and he murmured something that sounded like it was supposed to be comforting. He looked over to where Minion was coming from, the racket from his feet like claps of thunder in the otherwise silent lair. “SIR! Sir! Miss Ritchi Sir! She's...” His words stopped as he turned the corner and Megamind sighed. “Just don't tell me she's dead...” He muttered. She blinked at him then looked at Minion, he really didn't know she was there, on his lap? “Miss Ritchi!” Minion chirped, his only motion from the slosh of the water, eyes wide and mouth agape. “Yes, what about her Minion? Has she relapsed? Out with it!” Minions eyes flickered between the two faces. “Sir?! Miss Ritchi what are you doing here?! You left the hospital without checking out?” As she took a breath in his hands slid over her and she could feel the confusion, the overwhelming wave of fuzzy, disbelief like a comforter of confusion being thrown over her head. She winced. “They... They wouldn't let me leave...” She said to Minion and the hands on her gripped her tightly, one at her waist and the other at her knee. “Fuck.” The soft curse slipped out of dry blue lips.

It was like a slow dawning. He was really tired, not sleeping for days on end did that. Sure he didn't need as much sleep as a human but he needed it eventually. The mark on his chest had been throbbing whenever she was annoyed or angry, it had been throbbing off and on so he thought the harder, sharper throb was because he was tired. The hallucinations were common when he didn't sleep and he hadn't slept so it just didn't occur to him that she might actually be there, in his _secret_ lab, wanting to _sit on his lap_. Slowly he turned his head to her where she lay across him. “Roxanne? How...?” She whined softly, seemingly just as bothered and confused as he was, if she was here that was the mark, the bond doing that to her. Being nearer him was... it was dangerous for her. What if her mind couldn't take it? “I... I slipped out of the hospital. They were keeping me there and I didn't need... I'm better...” She sounded so lost and confused and it was not like her at all. He panicked and the immediate response from her was a distressed noise, one close to physical pain. Wild eyes looked up at Minion. “GET HER OUT OF HERE!” He stood, holding her out to Minion, his tired body protesting loudly. Minion questioned him even as he started to obey. “Sir are you sure? Is that... a good idea??” As the Gorilla arms took her, nails scrabbled at his clothes while she shrieked in wordless denial.

His mark _throbbed_ in in searing protest. As her hands were pried from him her shriek upped in pitch and fever. He had to close himself off. Be emotionless so she couldn't become more overwhelmed. He took in a breath and steeled himself, trying to stamp down everything. Worry, pain, panic, love, want, all of it had to go. He turned his back so he didn't have to watch her struggle against Minion and tried to close his ears to her cries. She quieted suddenly, it left a hole in his stomach. “Sir!? She's unresponsive...” He cursed everything. His existence, the universe, the cosmic joke that would allow such a thing to happen to _her_ but mostly he just cursed. She was limp in Minions arms, breathing just barely, eyes rolled up into her head. As he stepped forward to help she took a shuddering breath like someone had run an ice cube along her skin.

He stepped back and gave instructions, keeping as far away as he could, keeping the feeling of her in the back of his head as distant and unclear as possible. She was stable, much to his shock, and Minion moved over to him. “Sir... Tell me again. What do you remember about things like this?” Megamind shook his head, the action jostling his brain and making him feel slightly lightheaded. “I told you Minion. My mother had a mark on her chest and mid way up her arm. I have no idea what they are or how they got there... If my father had them too...” Minion sighed heavily, clearly irritated. “Minion it's killing her... I have to find a way to take it off of her.” Minion huffed in his tank, frustrated. “She seemed fine until you panicked. Then things only got worse as I tried to pull her away from you... Are you _sure_ this is a good idea Sir? What if only having one of them is the problem?” Megamind scoffed. “That's... Ridiculous Minion. If having _One_ of the marks has hurt her like this how is having _another_ going to make it better?” Minion folded his arms across his chest. “You can blow a circuit this way. And you haven't asked her... Or even _told_ her what's going on. Have you Sir?” 

A bitter scowl crossed the blue face and a hand flapped dismissively. “Because clearly she's a _Circuit_ that I'm blowing by putting too much power into. Her body isn't made for this...” As his temper rose she whined softly. He moved further away and she whined more loudly. Minion looked pointedly at him. “I'm sorry Sir.” He hissed and grabbed Megamind by the arm to drag him closer, Megamind tried to clamp down on his rage as Minion pulled him closer, but he only succeeded in not getting any angrier. The sound of distress calmed the more closely he stood which in turn made him less angry which made the sounds she was making even quieter. Wonder overtook him and he reached out, pushing some hair out of her face and she took a shuddering breath in, her eyes flying open. “Megamind!” She said his name desperately, his heart ached, and his mark throbbed gently. He sat down nearby and extracted his hand from her. “Ro... Miss Ritchi. How are you feeling?” She frowned and he could feel the confusion and the frustration from her. “Confused and frustrated?” He asked and she blinked at him. “Yes? And... Sad?” He smiled a warm smile that didn't make it to his eyes. “No Miss Ritchi. That's me.”

She examined herself for a moment. “Yea, but... How?” He sighed at her, leaning forward so his elbows were on his knees. His hands twined together. “When... You tried to aid me you cut yourself...” She nodded, remembering that. “And then the... purple lines... showed up on us...” She looked at him thoughtfully. He nodded and sighed again. “Yes. My... My people seem to have the ability to... bond with another through blood. My... My mother had a mark like that...” He pointed to her wrist and she smiled. Why did she smile? “But while it's... natural, maybe even instinctual to my people, human's have no such bond... So... When you accidentally mixed our blood over my heart... you were contaminated.” There was a loud, angry scoff from behind them. He glared over his shoulder. “And how would you say it? Hmm?” He felt distress taking over her mind and snapped his head back towards her. She was nearly crying. “So... You... It's just... an accident? And I am sick?” Minion chirped up behind them. “Not sick. Just overwhelmed.” She barreled forward before Megamind could get a word in. “So It's just... A mistake? But it feels... Special...” Minion answered again. “It is. It is special Ma'am.” Megamind growled at Minion and Roxanne whimpered again. 

“BUT!” He interrupted. “The bond has been particularly detrimental to your health. You were immediately affected with a fever and seem to exhibit physical pain when I become excessively emotional. I have been attempting to find a way to break the bond.” She whimpered again, this time it wasn't from something he'd done. She clutched her wrist to her chest as though to protect it. “Miss Ritchi... Please...” He tried to find words to ease her pain but she frowned and pulled back from him. “So you don't want it... Don't want to be tied to me...” It was his turn to be shocked. “Roxanne! It's killing you! I can't... I can't be... The _reason_ you _die_!” She crumpled and rubbed her wrist over her chest. She sniffled and then started to cry. “You're feeling too many emotions right now... Some of them are mine... You're overwhelmed. Let me... Let me fix this...”

“It hurts when you're away... And you're tired. And sad. And you don't want to take it off. And I think you love me.” She looked up at him with glassy blue eyes, filled with melancholy. He tried to deny it, tried to hide. “You're overwhelmed. I am tired, but I'm... I can't stop until you're better.” She looked away and frowned like she was listening for something. “You need sleep. Or... Or you'll make a mistake. And that might kill me.” How had she? “Might kill you is better than will kill you.” She gave him the most unamused look he'd ever seen from her and couldn't help but smirk at her usual self showing through the cloud of emotion. “It's not gonna kill me tonight.” He sighed with that tiny smirk still stuck to his dry lips. “I feel like I'm being ambushed. You are working under incorrect assumptions but I can see you're not going to let me do anything until I sleep. Minion?” The fish bobbed in the head of his mech. “Can you keep watch over her?” Minion flipped a little back flip. “Yes of course Sir!” She smirked and he felt such relief that he couldn't help it. He smiled.

He turned to go to his bedroom and could feel her stiffen even with his back turned. He grit his teeth and kept walking. “Miss Ritchi?” A pained voice followed the question. “I... I'll be fine. I think... I might sleep too.” There was a soft discussion and Megamind decided to go to the shower. He hadn't showered in almost as long as he hadn't slept. After he soaked in the water for a long moment he wrapped himself in a towel and ran to his room. He was sure she was close so he didn't want to accidentally run into her. As if he needed to feel embarrassed on top of terrible, there she was. In his room. Standing waiting for him. “Where... Where's Minion?” She cocked her head at him, honestly it was an odd little thoughtful gesture, like only half her mind was on the question. “Cleaning up the mess we made when we took out my IV.” He couldn't help the angry hiss at those words. “You mean you had an IV port in this whole time and just _now_ decided it was time to take it out?” She closed her eyes and sighed, her head still cocked. “Do you have any idea how wonderful it is to not be alone in my head?” He pulled his chin in and stood up straighter, she'd totally ignored his outrage. “What?” She was sliding towards him her right hand sliding over the skin of his chest, fingertips coming to rest over the mark. She shuddered and it reverberated in his spine. “It's totally unnatural... and I don't know if I can live without it. I've never felt so... Like this? Connected! It feels like inside jokes and... and hot chocolate by the fire... Does that even make sense? Even when you're upset or it's hurting I... I know you're there.” 

He panted softly, confusion batting away the sweet feelings of acceptance. “It's hurting you. _I'm_ hurting you.” She took his right hand in her left and pulled it to her chest. He could feel the relief wash through himself, from her. Then she sighed and let go of him, flopping down on his bed and wadding herself up in a ball, her nose between her knees and back against the wall. “Tell me about your mother's mark? If I'm gonna have to be alone in my mind again... You owe me at least that.” He chuckled softly at her demand, she must have overheard them earlier. “I don't think that's how this works. But ok. What do you want to know?” She looked up from her knees. “Was it purple... like ou... yours?” He nodded and smiled softly, touching the mark next to the healed wound, trailing away and up over his heart. “Yes. My mother's mark on her chest was purple. It was shaped... Well kinda like the one on your wrist. A long curved triangular shape... but mom's mark... it was more squished, there was one short point and the curve on the top leaned towards the medium point.” She smiled. “It sounds lovely... Did... Your father have one?” He sighed and sat down next to her. “I don't know. I never saw.” She frowned “Do you think your father's was on his wrist like mine is?” He trailed his fingers over his own wrist where she'd held it to her chest. “He... Probably had one on his chest and his wrist... like mom.”

He could feel the indignation before he heard her voice. Look at her... trying not to be angry at him. “What do you mean? Your mom had one on her wrist too?” He shrugged. “It wasn't on her _wrist_ per say, it was... Right about here...” He pointed to a spot below his wrist, midway on his forearm. “I've theorized recently that the bond is usually ritualized... Like... The kiss at the end of a marriage ceremony. I remember my father pressing his arm to my mother's chest the night before they sent me away and she did the same. Like it made a... Circuit.” He could feel the misery flow out of her to him to meet his own. Just the suggestion that they were making a circuit hurt him, just like Minion had suggested. Now he couldn't get that comparison out of his head. “Wait... We..?” He shrugged at her baffled question. “All the better reason to let you be rid of it.” She frowned and uncurled herself as she turned him slightly towards her. She hooked her fingers over his shoulder and pressed her arm against his chest. He sucked air in as she tested how far down her arm that put the mark, she was measuring where his mother's mark sat and seemed to be satisfied at it some how. She slid her hand down so that their marks rested against each other.

It was like lightening passed between them. She gasped and he grabbed her hand to pull it away but she leaned forward, pressing the skin together more tightly. “Ah! No! Don't...” She plucked at his fingers with the other hand and whined softly. Pressing their marks to each other. His mind rattled through some possibilities as to why he could feel current from her body, catching himself holding his hand over her heart as he tried to pry them apart. He could feel her heart beat become belabored. “Roxanne! Stop!” It felt like it took ages to pull her had away even though it took a mere instant. Roxanne flopped to the bed, clutching the wrist to her chest. “There's some kind of feed back, It's hurting you... Please... Roxanne...” Her fingers reached out for him, pulling him to lay next to her with pitiful whines and urgent fingers. He didn't have the heart to push her back while she felt so miserable even though he was wearing nothing more than his towel. Minion was along just moments later as he laid there, petting her back as she cried. “Sir?! Are you ok Sir?!” He glared up at the fish. “She touched our marks together.” She whimpered up against his throat making him still completely. Her lips were on his skin and it took so much for him to stamp down on the spike of libido he felt. “I want to do it again... Please... Everything was ok...” He closed his eyes, unable to leave them open with his pained revelation. “You don't mean that. It's just the bond...”

“Don't make me leave... Please...” she whined softly and he sighed. “I need to put on my pajamas...” She turned and buried her face in the blankets, refusing to be moved without a fight. He sighed and slipped into his closet to put clothes on. He made sure to cover the mark, putting on his radiation jammies. “There.” She looked up and smiled, Minion was still in the room and she looked down at the soft comfortable clothes she was wearing, She seemed pleased with the large flannel shirt and cotton leggings. “If... You need I can bring a cot in?” She shook her head violently and reached out for Megamind who sighed. “The bond... Doesn't require we be _that_ close Miss...” She hissed and grabbed him, pulling on him. “Roxanne. Or Roxie.” She stated and he smiled softly at her bossy statement. “Roxanne... We don't need to...” She whined and pulled on him again, pulling him into the bed by his hand. His resignation curled and mingled with her determination. He was tired and the warmth of her was comforting. He laid on his side to try and give her as much room as possible but she curled into him all the same, her nose up under his chin. The proximity should have been uncomfortable but it lulled him to sleep far more quickly than he thought possible. He was half asleep even before Minion pulled the blanket over them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are only getting bumpier from here for our intrepid villain. We start with some smut... It's not particularly explicit so I'm not super worried, I put this at mature after all. Then after the smut we're into pure Angst ville. Forgive me?

They clearly had shifted in their sleep. Her back pressed to his chest, one arm looped under her neck and his other hand wrapped over her side. Her right hand laid in his hand, his thumb laying across her wrist. His mind floated idly, would he have put his mark on his wrist and hand like she had? It would be awkward to do it on his forearm like his parents had with her already having hers on her wrist. No. No stop that. He needed to not fantasize about keeping the mark. Even if it hurt him to think about not having it, not having her, he couldn't put her at risk. “I'd put yours on your arm.” He hadn't realized she was awake. The content gentle emotion she seemed to be glowing with was not the contentment of sleep it seemed. She pointed her finger down at his wrist, just a bit below where hers was, caressing the skin gently with the back of her fingers. He shuddered around her and tried to pull his hips back, tried to stop the sweet cloy of lust from reaching her. The delicate touch had kicked up his libido far more than he knew possible. “Sorry... I know... It needs to come off... but I was... Fantasizing. Wishing.” He sighed, that's what you get he supposed. “No... That was me Roxanne.” She snickered at him and shook her head. “I don't think so. You just woke up a bit ago. Less than five minutes.” She rolled onto her belly and stayed close to his body. “And I'm just getting some wistful stuff off you... How would I know what it was you were thinking about from that? Are you getting more complex stuff than just... Emotional fluff?”

He looked up at her. There was something so comfortable about having her that close. He let his hand stroke down her back absently. He shook his head to the negative and she continued. “I've been thinking about it for probably ten minutes. Your arms are longer, just a little, if the mark centered right here...” She leaned down and kissed the spot on his arm making him jolt lightly. She looked at him with a coy smile. “Sensitive?” He frowned at her little grin, the spot she'd kissed itched and burned but he resisted the urge. “Roxanne... Why are you teasing me?” Her fingers laid delicately across the spot she had kissed and rubbed the skin sweetly with her nails, satisfying his itch in an all too sensual way. “Oh come on. You're hilarious to tease, I do it all the time. You even call me temptress...” The smug satisfaction slipped lightly, giving way to a strange yearning. “And... because I'm never going to get to feel this again. Megamind... I can... Feel you just a little bit. And when you're calm and close like this... It feels... Amazing. It may be uncomfortable when you get upset or angry or anxious but... Does it hurt you when I'm anxious?” He made a bit of a face contemplating what it felt like. “Not... really. It's highly unpleasant but it's not _painful_. None of it is painful, no more so than my own emotions are for me.” She snuggled down into the bed, her wide hips pressing into his, making him pull his lip between his teeth while he watched her. “Hmmm...!” She hummed at him and pressed her lips into the skin of his arm again. When she pulled her lips away she wet them in a way he would describe as hungry, eyes focused on the blue skin. 

“Roxanne... whatever you're thinking... Don...” She cut him off leaning down into his arm and licking the inside of his wrist, pressing her tongue flat against the tendons and veins so close to the surface. She lit him on fire, his blood humming happily with lust. His hand on her back gripped her side and pulled her towards him, pressing his hips into the soft swell of hers. His breath caught as he caught himself leaning into her. Her teeth scraped pleasantly over his wrist and his free hand slid down over her ass and he leaned in the rest of the way. “Roxie... What are you doing? You shouldn't...” A long languid lick slid over his skin, making his fingers twitch and his other hand slide back up sharply to touch her skin under her shirt. He gripped her and she turned into him. Her chin turned up immediately and she let their lips collide, slipping her hand up to his cheek to insist he kiss her. He held her to him, the arm that she'd been kissing wrapped to the back of her head. Her leg slid over his hip, pulling his hips tightly against her.

He tried, he really did try to break them apart but when he felt lust rush back at him from her it overtook him. He had everything he'd ever wanted right there, acceptance, the beautiful woman who'd captured him, and even if he was sure that it was just his lust echoing in her, effecting her, he couldn't stop himself with her throwing herself against him. As she pressed into his mouth, her lips devoured his like she was starving, he pressed back into her. He gladly fed her lust, tasted it on her tongue. The nickname he'd given her was well earned in this moment because every time he'd start to think better of what they were doing, of how his hand had slid down and uncovered her hip, pushing the leggings down off her perfect, beautiful ass and he should stop she would do something. Her hand cupped the back of his head just how he desperately wanted, like she'd found an itch and reacted to the pleasure that flooded him. She squirmed in his arms, using his hand to pull the leggings down further the hand from his face flying down to cover his and help him undress her. She gasped against his lips and pulled her leg out, she must have used her toes to pull on the other leg because suddenly she was free of her pants, the fabric flying across the room to hit the door, her panties still clinging to one leg as he looked down her body to see what had made a noise.

She took that opportunity to turn into his neck, apparently remembering how he'd reacted before. He couldn't pay attention to anything with her curled into his neck, kissing the sensitive skin, leaving damp, sucking kisses along his throat as he moaned, his fingers running along her hip and up through her hair. He almost was able to pull back when he felt her hand slide under his pants along his narrow hip but she let her teeth slide along his pulse whiting out his mind as she exposed him too the cool air. She slid her hand along him and he couldn't help but thrust into her hand, pulling a pleased little coo out of her. He wasn't sure if he rolled her onto her back or if she pulled him over on top of her and at this point he couldn't actually find any braincells to allocate towards caring. Roxanne Ritchi was guiding him between her thighs, she had a leg hitched up around his hips and she was making wordless pleading noises at him. When she seemed to think he was hesitating she slid her free hand up his throat, fingers gliding across the damp spots from her lips, her thumb slipping sweetly over the front of his throat before slipping around behind his head and pulling him down into another kiss. A deep thrumming moan poured into her mouth as he gripped her desperately, his hips bucking forward and finding his way into her body.

As he sunk into her, her back arched away from the bedding and she ran her nails into the back of his shirt. A squealing affirmative encouraged him as he lost himself in her. Frantic fingers unbuttoned his shirt as he hung over her, supporting himself with both hands planted firmly on either side of her. She curled up against him, her arms sliding against his bare skin and her lips landing on his chest, just over his mark. Panting she fell back to the mattress, tearing at her own shirt. She ignored the buttons, pulling it up over her head and throwing it away from herself. He sunk down onto his elbows and nuzzled into her neck as he thrust. Her arms were tangled in his shirt and her nails set into his skin occasionally. One arm found it's way out and gripped his head again, she rattled the walls with her pleased screams, holding his head to her skin, fingers gripping and fluttering along his spine and skull. He groaned into her ear as he gripped her earlobe with his teeth. Their pace became fevered, him pressing his hips into her as she panted her desire noisily.

Pleasure like he'd never even guessed was possible thrummed between their bodies. When he felt like he could tip over the edge into ecstasy he held back, not wanting to overwhelm her, more than willing to protect her even in his passion. As though it was in her nature to be contrary, she pulled him over into ecstasy with her, overwhelming him as white hot pleasure ripped through him from her. Her thighs clamped around him and her heels were crossed over his hips as a moan that was both strangled and growling left him. He was lost in her again for a long moment, hips pressed flush to hers and his mouth on her collar. He expressed his passion across her skin in sweet bites and vicious kisses. With a shuddering sigh she ran her hands over him, exploring his skin, up until her hand slid from his back to his chest, the fingers of her marked hand skimming over his marked chest. He jerked, painfully aware of their marks as he narrowly redirected her hand to miss. He snaked his hand up her arm, wrapping his fingers around her wrist in a flash, protecting her from pressing against it again.

With a pant and more than a little regret creeping into his consciousness as his surprise orgasm faded, Megamind countered the soft whine from her. “That was... entirely too pleasant... and exceedingly ill advised...” He was loath to admit how good it felt for her to despair at his assessment of the situation. She shifted, her legs were relaxing and her finger tips slid ticklishly across the skin of his chest, tempting and inviting. “Once more? I just want... C'mon. Before you take it away...” The words “from me” echoed unsaid in the room and through their bond, the regret she had at the loss of the bond. He frowned and shifted his fingers slightly as she spread hers, slipping his fingers between. She gripped his fingers and, shockingly didn't press forward, even as her eyes flickered down to his chest and her want squirmed up her spine. It was killing her, he could feel the toll it took on her body, how it was making her do... Making her act like this? Was it forcing her to act like this? He really needed more research but... She wanted it! How could she want it? Want him?

“I don't understand. This... started to kill you, actively! Why do you want this? How can you want this at all?” She sighed and stretched her fingers again, the tips of her nails dancing sweetly over his skin while she composed her thoughts. “You feel it too...” Her eyes connected with his, earnest in a pitiful sort of way that just didn't feel like... _her_. “Like I'm the most important thing in the world... Like I'm wanted.” Her eyes slid away and she seemed to be trying not to cry even as a tear slid from her and he could feel the tension in her body as he lay against it. Without looking back up at him she pleaded again. “Please. While were still... Connected.” The gentle shift in her legs and slight squeeze to her hand that lay on the back of his neck did him in. It wasn't enough to feel how badly she yearned, she was showing him, as though they didn't know what the other was feeling. He pulled her wrist up to his lips, kissing the purple there, drawing her eyes up to him. Her hand shifted on the back of his head as she shivered from the kiss, hope dawning through her whole self.

He pressed his forehead to hers in an affectionate gesture while he pulled her wrist to his heart, wincing at how he could feel her heart race and the excitement that coursed through him from her. Would she even notice the regret that seemed to swell in him with her every action? Maybe the regret was what changed how it effected her. It still made her body tense like she'd been touched with a live wire But she didn't seem quite so overwhelmed. She panted and let out little half moans, her body moving under his, sending little shocks of pleasure through him. It didn't effect him like it did her, or didn't seem to. The pleasantly electric hum coursed through him, placid compared to the tension it caused in her body. He couldn't help but rock onto his elbow and run his right hand over her heart, closing his eyes and imagining for just that brief moment.

He pried her wrist back away from him, leaving her heaving below him, a strange kind of contentment radiating off of her as she looked utterly decimated in his bed. “Megamind...” He kissed her forehead. Her fingers stretching out between his and touching the mark. He didn't let her press back up into him even as she arced her back and rocked her hips. “Come on Roxie... Don't make this any harder on me.” He didn't know what else to say to her as he had to pull his shoulder back from her. He slid off of her and shuddered at the lack of contact, sliding his pants back up his legs. Abruptly, she wound into a ball on his bedding, breaking his heart as she started to cry. Misery and yearning a dark cloud at the back of his mind. “I... can't take it yet. You have some time. Do... what you want.” He didn't know what else to say to her. He walked out of the room and could hear the hissing sound that left her as he drew further away. He ran his fingers over the mark idly feeling the dull ache that it had before they had curled together in the bed last night.

He found Minion in the kitchen making some food, it was nearly done. “Ah! You're up Sir... And... Disheveled.” He slowly buttoned his shirt back up and Minion could tell that the blue man was trying to keep his temper under control. “You were supposed to watch her last night. _I_ can't watch her while I'm sleeping...” Minion nodded in his tank with a half smile. “Yes Sir. I watched her until she opened her eyes this morning. She seemed to want some privacy... While she... Um... Cried, Sir...” Minion was very uncomfortable with the whole thing and they both knew the fish hated disagreeing with his ward and master. “Sir... She seems to do rather well when she's close to you.” He rubbed the mark under his shirt. Did she? Or was she just reflecting how much he loved being near her? “Yes. She does. Minion, you know I don't want to... Break the bond anymore than anyone else in this situation...” Minion opened his mouth but Megamind pressed on. “My blood, my _love_ is killing her. And before you say it, no, I will not chance reciprocating the mark. Not without good cause to think it would help and I don't see how more of the same is going to help her with the physiological issue she's having.” There was a deep, bone deep sigh that seemed to break him before he concluded. “I'll purge myself from her.” 

“What will happen with your mark Sir?” Megamind shrugged as he slid into one of the stools. “I'll deal with it after she's safe. I'd even consider experimenting on myself, removing mine first, but if it kills me then I'm not going to be there to save her. I can't be sure that anything that works on _me_ will work on _her_.” Minion shrank from the conversation dramatically. “SIR!?” Megamind made a vague ambivalent hand wiggle in response. “What Minion?” He was answered with a fierce reproach. “That is...It's... Not _acceptable_ Sir!” He was cut off by an icy response just as sharply as the one he lobbed. “Yea. It's not acceptable. Because there will be no one with even passing knowledge of my biochemical and physiological makeup to attempt to save her if I die.” Minion came back hard again, big mechanical hands flattening onto the surface of the counter between them. “And if removing her mark does something to you? And makes it so you can't save yourself?” There was a dark look across the villains face, far darker than anything the fish had seen before. “Then you'll _mourn_ me.”

~~

Roxanne took a moment of introspection, contemplating the last 24 hours and inspecting what all had happened. Currently, she stood at the end of the hall, hand on her hip. Her emotions now under _shockingly_ tight control, even with his dark mood. It felt like a buffeting angry wind from his end of their bond. She had smelled food after he left her alone and composed herself before she headed towards the smell. Then she heard their conversation. The mark ached like longing when he wasn't close to her but she could handle that. She'd spent two weeks in the hospital getting used to the vague ache in her wrist, the slight chill in her bones. Now, when she moved closer she could feel how the distant fog of his emotion would turn to fluffy clouds of feeling and then into something almost tangible when they were really close. 

She'd always assumed he had a bit of a thing for her. He kidnapped her more than anyone else in the city, to the the point of exclusivity these last few years. With the frequency of the kidnappings and the innate violence surrounding her rescues, he'd thrown himself in harms way more than once to protect her. She'd seen him protect her before, he was always protecting her if she was honest about it, but he'd never been so blatant in his disregard of his own safety. She knew _now_ that he loved her. Not just “Oh you're pretty I'm infatuated with you” he was more “I will move the heavens if it will make you smile but you will always be enough for me” sort of love. It was dizzying to know how he felt so intrinsically. It was almost humbling knowing that the kidnapping was his ill informed way of spending time with her.

She felt a strange fondness for him, never having let herself feel more than that but completely unable to feel _less_. So it shocked her as much as it had him when she became distraught at the idea that he didn't want to be with her. Shocking as it was, it was more the shock of someone popping around a corner before you were ready rather than something you'd never known was possible. Then when he was in the shower as she and Minion where making a mess with her blood she'd inspected that instant. She had something, something wonderful and warm and she could _never_ have it with anyone else. She realized when she snuck into his bedroom that she didn't _want_ it with anyone else. It was a sick realization. She _did_ feel something for her kidnapper, more than she'd felt for any person in her life. It'd lead her to refusing to leave his room when he needed to sleep. Waking in his arms with his thumb across the mark had made her cry before she calmed. The fantasy she'd let herself indulge in had lead to the frankly amazing bout of sex. Touching the marks together was a singular experience, electric, almost painful, not unlike the sharp leading edge of an orgasm. Even though she could actually feel it hurting her, really actually hurting her while it overwhelmed her senses, she still wanted more. 

Now she stood there, emotions on a tight leash, she'd gotten more of her usual vigor back. With that low level of pain receding for a whole night's rest she felt like she was really back on her feet. “Then you'll _mourn_ me.” She took a sharp breath in as Minion quailed. “And I'd like you to take care of her like you would me if that happens.” She chewed the side of her tongue at his comment, letting a beat pass before she spoke. If she kept a bit of distance he'd have a harder time feeling her emotions while she reeled them back in. Roxanne was nothing if not a quick study of other people's reactions. “So that's the last will and testament of Megamind?” She let herself feel irritated because she knew there was no way to keep it out of her voice. He let out a short dry chuckle, a humorless little bark of expelled air. “So it seems. Will you be joining us Miss Ri...” She made him feel a very pointed spike of rage, hot as white flame at him using her last name. “... Roxanne. Eat?” The question he'd started had been waylaid by her annoyance at the man she'd made love to that morning. How dare he try to be prim with her?

“Yes. I'm hungry.” She turned sympathetic eyes to Minion who still looked a bit like he'd been slapped in the face. She slid a very familiar hand across his shoulders as she passed him, enjoying the flannel under her hand. She was just wearing the long shirt she'd worn the night before and Minion seemed to notice the stillness in Megamind as her hand slid along him, she could feel him stir, lust trying to float to the surface. “You know I'm not going to let you go back to calling me that right?” She let her fingers stall on his elbow, drawing his green eyes to her. “Especially after this morning.” With her little smirk, his sudden wide eyed stillness and their general disheveled appearance, Minion couldn't miss the innuendo. “Oh... OH!” The wide eyes flickered between the two then a softly confused smile split his toothy face. “Is it ok for me to still call you 'Miss Ritchi'? I don't think it's really proper for me to call you by your first name...” He asked, ludicrously politely. Megamind blinked and then glared at him. “You called me Ma'am last night. If you won't call my Roxanne or Roxie, that works.” Megamind opened his mouth, she could feel indignation and frustration off of him and she smiled, managing to keep herself from feeling too terribly smug. She plowed forward before he could finish stammering. “Assuming something catastrophic doesn't happen and you don't have to bequeath Minion to me... Will you let me stay if I want to after the mark is gone?” 

He looked at her dumbstruck and gaping, poor man was going to get emotional whiplash. Minion turned his back to serve up some of the food while hiding his slight smirk. She waited, grinning mischievously, until he finally composed himself. “It's absolutely preposterous to think that... That... Roxanne this is clearly the bond talking...” She slid her hand over his thinly clad thigh with a smile that could have cut glass. “Just because you think you have the answer doesn't mean you do.” She purred at length before ceding slightly. “You're right. This may be the bond and your desires talking through me. _It's not_ , but it is possible. Instead of jumping at the worst possible scenario, just this once, humor _me_ and take the time to consider what you'll do if you're wrong. Will you let me stay? Or will you send me away even though I still want to be around you after you've taken the mark away.” The smile hurt some, grinning like a shark at him when she knew damn well, in the most unquestionable way possible, that this was upsetting him. His lips gaped ever so slightly as his eyes, wide and guileless for once clearly conveyed how dearly he wished she'd want to stay. There was some restrained anger that floated through the cloud of his emotion. “I... Shouldn't even let you stay right now... There's no way you can... _properly consent_. But... I don't think I could send you away even if I wanted to. I doubt you'd let me. Even _after_ what I've done.” 

She bit back bile in her throat at what he was suggesting. Suggesting that she _really_ didn't want him, that if she was in her right mind she would protest. That careful tight leash she had on her emotions slipped slightly. “Meh... Megamind... That's... Abysmal! Don't even suggest that!” She hissed quietly, as though speaking too loudly was going to some how make it true. “Why..? Why shouldn't I suggest that? How is it not a... a reasonable worry?” Megamind asked without looking at her. She took a shuddering breath in and looked at him. He was so worried and dejected. She watched him swallow nothing as he stared into the tabletop. For a gorilla sized mechanical thing, Minion was able to maneuver himself nearly silently if he thought about it. She was half shocked when Megamind lifted his hand to pick up a fork, having not noticed that the plates had rather suddenly appeared in front of them then the fish busied himself with the dishes. 

In her mind she reached out with both hands towards the cloud of his emotions. Reminding herself quickly and solidly that she knew what was his and what was hers, that she wasn't dejected she was determined, wasn't worried about this. “It's not reasonable to me.” She started softly and continued before he could interject. “I'm a quick study, I know what's yours... what's mine. It's pretty easy to tell... isn't it? You can tell can't you?” Minion scuttled off quietly in the corner of her vision, clearly not wanting to intrude on this particularly delicate conversation. The way Megamind's eyes followed his friend was dark even though she couldn't feel anything different from him. “Does... It matter? Does it actually change the outcome if you reciprocate? If my emotions catalyze yours, isn't it completely possible that I can _make_ you... _want_ what I do?” He turned his darkened eyes on her and she felt a shiver beg to run up her spine. Whatever he was hiding he was good at hiding it, like he'd been practicing for far longer than the bond's existence. It felt like maybe the worry and the dejection were a front. The bond certainly didn't give her the ability to know what he was thinking, only what he was actively feeling. Something she'd already discovered in herself, that if you didn't let yourself feel it, they couldn't feel it.

Everything about the next moment was quick. He was on his feet, suddenly looming over her, his hands on either side of her, pinning her against the wall she'd stumbled back into when he suddenly rushed her. At the same moment he apparently stopped holding back. He moved just as quickly as the tidal wave of emotion that he let loose. Every kind of lust and want cascaded through her mind spilling through the bond so quickly she hissed softly at the flood. Green eyes pinned her where she was as much as his body did, blue eyes open wide at him, shocked, her heart thundering against her ribs. “I _want_ you to kiss me... I want it more than I want _air_...” He whispered against her, every bit of shock fled and her startled hands that were up against her chest melted against his, sliding along the soft fabric. She smirked at his melodramatic way to get her to kiss him but his expression of restrained, almost angry want remained the same. It remained even as she gripped his shirt. She tilted her chin towards him and pulled at his clothes to pull him into a kiss. 

“But.” The word stilled her hands and the smirk faltered. Her eyes slid up from his lips back to his eyes, they were entirely too hard for him to be playing around. “If you can't resist kissing me right now... You'll prove my point. That I'm... I've... That you'll feel differently when the mark is gone.” There was a quick flash of self loathing like lightening in a thunder cloud. He wasn't kidding around, he wasn't being a pain or trying to manipulate her. There was the distant hint of regret, her eyes trained on his as a trickle of the sadness ran through before he redoubled his efforts to feel nothing but lust and want. She whined softly, the feeling burned, it ached and prickled against her skin like needles, her mark screamed but he'd made it that way on purpose. She tried to think through the fog that was clouding every corner of her mind. _She_ was touching _him_. There was a thin bubble of air between them that he maintained. He touched her at no point on her body. Not one, single, solitary point of contact. The sudden realization was almost crushing under the weight of his lust. _He_ had no problems restraining himself, even under the tidal wave of what he was feeling, but could she? Her teeth chattered as she took in a breath, a squirm rolling down her spine as she tried not to break and slip against him. 

“Megamind... Really? You're testing me?” She tried to make a joke out of it but it just sounded desperate. He didn't respond, just watched her, his eyes sliding down her when her hips twisted with her squirm. Resisting was so hard. He was just right there. She knew, beyond a shadow of any doubt that he _wanted_ her, but if she gave in, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to _have_ him. That he'd shut her out with self loathing, bury his lust under hate until it died. If it died, there was no way he'd believe that she wanted to stay with him, that she wanted him after he'd removed the mark on her wrist. There was a bitter twist in her guts. He wasn't just _removing_ the mark. He was _rejecting_ it. _Rejecting her_. 

She hissed angrily under his all encompassing presence. Better to be angry than sad. Even angry she couldn't bring herself to remove her hands from him. Her anger used her hands. He was being cruel. She could play that game too. Her hands spread seductively, pressing against his chest, she could feel the tiniest bit of reluctance, like he was thinking about moving away. Her hands slid up his chest and her left hand slid up his long neck, her right resting on his chest, fingers just over the edge of his collar bone. He took in a sharp breath, his eyes still trained on her as her fingers curled around the back of his neck. His face fought to remain exactly as it had been but she could feel how he was pulled taunt, strained like a bowstring, ready to snap. He was fighting moaning, she could feel the thread of panic and another made of anger mixed into his emotions as she touched him. She could see it in his eyes, he was expecting her to yank his head down to hers, not that she was shocked, that was exactly what she wanted to do right now. Her fingers flexed against the back of his neck as she resisted pulling him.

She thumbed the top button, her fingers curling into the collar of his shirt. What would she do if he didn't let her stay? If she gave in and he distanced himself? A soft growl slid out of her as she restrained herself, her fingers sliding hungrily on his skin. He shuddered. She made him shudder! She licked her lower lip and tucked her chin in slightly as she nibbled it and his eyes dipped to the display of desire. That trickle of sadness passed by again. “How long are you going to torment me?” She purred at him. There was a spark of irritation in him. “Until you push me away.” Frustration rattled through her like a train, shaking her to her bones. She was drowning in his desire and he wanted her to push back? To make it really feel like she didn't want him? To push him away from her when all she wanted was to pull him in? When had he decided to actually be evil? The slim contact she had with him felt like breathing through a straw, like if she could touch him more she could crest above the desire and ride through his storm. 

She shuddered again and flattened her right hand against him but she couldn't push him, her body just refused to push him away. A fine tremor went through him as her hand slid up to touch skin, her thumb on one collar bone and her fingers slowly wrapping around the other side of his throat. There was no threat to the hand as it slid up his throat but she could feel his pulse pick up all the same, see the lust cracking behind his eyes. She groaned running both hands down his skin, nails sliding gently against his spine as her thumb ran along the tightened cords of his throat. He turned his eyes away from her. “Miss...”

There was a snap. He felt it, like a power cable broken by a branch, flung wildly in the other direction. Her hands hit his chest, she shoved with all her might and let loose an angry shriek to punctuate herself. He could still feel the echoing lust from her, but now there was a current of anger in her and it was strong. “No.” She hissed at him, finger extended and pointed at him. “I told you. No more 'Miss Ritchi'. No more polite distance, 'Miss Ritchi' is the woman you kidnap. You're not standing next to a 'Miss”. You're standing next to _me_ , your lover.” There was a dangerous undercurrent to her voice, one he'd never heard from her. “You call me anything else. 'Hey bitch' would even work... but if you call me that again I will fucking cut this mark off my wrist and watch you scramble to stop the bleeding.” The threat hissed as though it was acid hitting the floor, it blindsided him as she aimed the accusing finger at her own wrist. “What?! Roxanne!” Before he could even think to move she stalked a step closer and continued. “Better. Now is your stupid test over?” He frowned, his back straightening in his shock. “Well... Ye!!!” As soon as his lips started to form the word she was on him, yanking him to her and pressing her lips to his with scalding fire. When she broke it a moment later she huffed and then put her hand over his heart, the gentle tingle of their marks being that close wasn't as intense as skin to skin but he felt it.

Her head rolled back and he realized he had his arms around her, he was all but holding her up as she leaned into his embrace. Her head rolled into his chest and she nearly went all the way limp. “Don't you EVER threaten me like that again.” She hissed against his throat, her face snuggled into his skin. The argument formed without him thinking. “I wasn't the one threa...” He was cut off by her ripping at his shirt, popping one of the buttons with a loud angry growl. “Bullshit. Get your shirt off before I shred it.” She hissed, her head up, eyes defiant and angry. Had he really proved anything? “Roxie...” He hedged, trying to still her hands but she yanked again and two more buttons popped, giving her enough access to his chest for what she had been planning. She ducked her head against his throat and forced her hand against his mark, though she only held it there for a few seconds before ripping herself away from him. He had to admit to himself, he was torn, was this because he had annoyed her so badly or because he'd washed her in lust? What the fresh hell was this even? A dream or a nightmare?

“Now either you take me back to bed or you get to work! I'll be in your room.” With that she stalked off in the direction she'd come, her food untouched and his only picked at. He took the plate that was his and ate a bit before scraping the measly remains off into the garbage. “Minion. Do you mind taking M... Roxanne her food? She's in my room.” He informed the fish as walked past, knowing that he was going to get questioned. “Sir? Is everything alright? Is Mih... Ma'am ok?” Minion took his cues from Megamind, the fish tested out the name she'd asked for but was cautious. He stalled with his back to Minion, running his hands wearily over his face. “I need to get to work. Can you please keep her company? It's probably best if I do _try_ to limit contact with her. Not that she'll let me but...” He gestured helplessly and Minion nodded to his back. “Yes Sir. I'll... I'll go be with her, so long as you'll be alright?” Megamind chuckled softly at the concern. “I'm going to have to be... I think she'll kick my ass if I'm not.” There was a startled chuckle then a warm, approving noise out of his fishy friend. “Yes, I can see that Sir. I'll go keep her company.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >.o Hope that wasn't too painful. Lemme know >.<
> 
> We've got one more, slightly big chapter that includes my original epilogue that I really felt was too heavy for it to be an epilogue so it's just the end of the chapter. Hope to have that chunk up some time tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter hits the darkest parts of the story and it is kinda unrelenting for a bit so just to warn peeps, don't worry there is fluff here I swears! There's even some giggles! I promise! Tiny bit longer chapter to wrap things up ^_^

Roxanne was particularly disappointed to see Minion was the one who came to her. “Damn. He went to work.” All her bravado crumbled as the fish bobbed like he was nodding in the dome of his suit. He made a face like he was sad for her and she curled up on the bed while he found himself a bit of a spot to sit on. “Yes, Sir can be pretty single minded.” She huffed and a mechanical arm reached over and flipped the blanket over her where she was wound. “Aren't you hungry Ma'am?” He asked as she mused under the blanket. “Mmm? Oh... I was...” He frowned down at her and offered the food. She barely tasted the food as she ate while Minion watched over her. “Do I go to him?” She asked before she could think better of the question. Minion gestured helplessly. “That depends entirely on what outcome you want to achieve...” She huffed, grumpy at the offered solution. She used the mark to check on him, his emotions were high but not distressed, no more so than she really expected. There was still something that she wanted to ask, and she decided that maybe Minion would be the person to ask.

“Hey, what do you know about the whole... Mark thing?” She questioned, trying to keep her tone slightly light but her worry bled in. “Not much really, only what Sir has extrapolated...” She squirmed in her spot and looked sadly up at minion. “He's divorcing me isn't he?” There was a sad, resigned little smile of the fish's face. “Kinda.” She looked up at him and huffed. “It's worse isn't it?” The fish sighed in his tank, settling himself more soundly. “Um, maybe? The pair of you are only half bonded... we think. Kinda like, engaged? And either of you could break it off, he thinks, if you were both... like him. It would be like giving the ring back, there would be pain but the marks would fade. His hasn't faded, he suggested there was some kind of... Emotional feed back loop? Because you don't reflect his emotions correctly? He actually tried, while you were in the hospital, to... How did he put it? “Slam the door” on your feelings... Said that you couldn't seem to. Like there was a rug in the door.” She took a sharp breath. “Wait, so he's already tried to reject me?” Minion shrunk slightly from her, the shrill tone in her voice worrying him slightly.

“Well, yes ma'am... He _tried_ but it didn't work... I... Honestly I don't think his heart was in it. His body reacts in very measurable amounts to his emotions. He wanted to save you, but it's not like he can actually change the way he feels, even wanting to save you he couldn't bring himself to actually want to reject you.” Roxanne could feel the moment Megamind picked up on the hurt, betrayal and pain the revelation brought her. But with it was an odd sense of relief, he couldn't, he did feel for her then? He tried to force calm through her but she could taste an edge of panic on the calm he was trying to flood her with and she was able to push it down, both the calm and the panic. She didn't want to be calm, she wanted to be furious, to feel the hurt of his attempted rejection. He'd attempted to purge her from himself and failed. She'd been like a pretty little cockroach, able to slip in and hide in his heart. Able to avoid capture and make herself at home in his heart no mater how much he tried to get rid of her. 

The bitter train of thought was cut short by Minion speaking again. “I'd rather he not you know. I'd much rather he try finishing the bond. I'm scared for him. Really truly terrified. It's not like when he's fighting Metro Man... I know Wayne will... Wayne will just take him away, put him back in jail and wait for the next time. When Sir fights himself... That's when he makes the really dangerous mistakes.” Minion sighed and that panic that she'd felt from Megamind slipped past her defenses as her own rose to meet it. “Wh...What do you mean by that?” She questioned carefully, trying to hold back the growing wave of panic that they seemed to be building, each trying to calm but neither able to pull back entirely. “Well... Sir, he doesn't...” Minion fussed over his words, something she knew he wasn't much for. “Sir can't always see the bigger picture, he can't always step back and see what consequences his actions have for _him_. Because he doesn't always _care_ if there are consequences.” Real fear flooded her. “Oh...” She barely even realized that the word had come out of her mouth. “Oh shit...” 

There was an incline to Minion as she swore, like he'd been waiting for her to make this realization. “Oh fuck... Fuck! Minion!! But... Oh god... You guys don't know what's going to happen do you? If he breaks the bond without... If it doesn't do what he's expecting what will...” Minion turned slightly away from her, his eyes resting on nothing in the direction of the door. “Well, we don't know with any kind of certainty... too many variables as Sir likes to say. Sir is attached to you, even before the bond mark. What... actually worries me the most is how far he might go to free you of the bond...” He didn't have to finish that statement and she was really glad he didn't. With the conversation she'd walked into earlier, she knew what he was worried about. If Megamind got desperate, if he saw no other way, minion was worried he'd make it so there was no one for her mark to connect to. It was a lead weight of pain dropping on her, smashing her heart down into her stomach, leaving it bleeding and smashed.

There was a snap of frustration and fear from his end of their bond and she could all but feel him storming towards the bedroom. He was coming to check on her and Minion didn't know. “I... don't know if I can do this Minion...” Her voice warbled and she mentally cursed herself for how weak and childish it made her feel. There was a sad little smile on Minion's face and a hand on her knee, gentle and sweet. “I know Ma'am.” She wasn't sure Minion knew exactly what she meant. That she needed to try and protect Megamind at all costs... Just like he needed to protect her. Even if it meant giving this precious thing up. “It just... It feels so...” Tears rolled down her face, she was trying to get this out before he came through the door. She felt like he was slowing down, the clarity seemed to be slowing? With practice she could probably tell how far away he was by the clarity of his emotions. 

“The mark feels so _right_... Why? Why can't we... How much more could the bond hurt me?” Minion replied, playing devil's advocate. “It could, theoretically, kill you Ma'am. I'd lose him if that happened.” Minion said it with a finality that made a shuddering gasp rip through her. She looked over at the door. He was very close, he might be listening. He might be just on the other side of that door. “You really think that?” Minion shook in his dome. “I _know_ that Ma'am.” She hissed at that, like it was a hot poker branding her. “Ok.” She said quietly, leaden certainty of what she had to do following her as she stood up and crossed the short distance to his door, pulling it open to see his stricken face. Minion gasped softly behind her, yea he had no idea Megamind was so close. “Sir?!” Minion sounded like he'd been caught telling secrets again but Megamind's eyes were only for Roxanne. She knew he could feel the determination in her, the solid way that she'd stamped her mental foot down over her emotions. He had a wariness about him, like he knew what she was thinking even if he could only feel her desperate and deliberate frustration and irritation. He didn't pull back when she grabbed his shoulder to pull him closer. She pressed her lips to his in a sweet, gentle kiss, a flicker of despair was ruthlessly shoved away at knowing it would be their last kiss like this. His hands wrapped around her hips as she curled into him, savoring that last, sweet moment. Making it last as long as she could.

Then she slapped him as hard as she could, right across his face.

His face snapped to the side as his shock washed her forcing her she to press back against it. “Let go of me.” She said it with all the steel and anger she could ever possibly hold to her breast. Every bit of rage that he'd tried to sever their connection before she ever even got to feel it, every bit of annoyance turned into a blade. The pained look in his eyes as he looked back up at her, his hand hand held to the spot that was slowly turning lightly purple, almost, _almost_ stole her conviction. He took a step back as she moved into his space again, face hard and angry. “Let... Go... Of... Me... _Here_.” She hissed out at him and pressed a pointed finger to his chest, right over his heart, at his mark. A different kind of shock, the shock of realizing what it was she telling him to do as she backed him up struck his features and a welling pain flooded in after the shock. “You tried to reject me before... Before I could even know what was going on! Before I even _knew_!! You didn't tell me! You didn't come for me! Didn't even _think_ that maybe what you should be doing is checking up on me?! Asking me how I was doing?! Just... Oh this hurt her. It has to _die_ now. Not that you ever _have_ thought to check with me first...” She kept going, pressing anger up against him, letting it slice her feelings away from his, cutting off every single pleasant emotion.

Pull out the rug, slam the door. As much as it killed her, if he felt rejected he could probably pull himself back from her. That was her goal. If she didn't reflect properly then she'd have to emanate the correct feelings. So feel it Roxanne. Go for the low blow.

“You know I tolerate _Hal_ because of you? Because I'm not sure what you'd do to him if you realized what kind of a scum that boy is. I have to put up with his half ass confessions of love and his horrible attempts to get us alone weekly.” His head snapped up, his back suddenly strikingly straight as his eyes widened. “What?!” There's the hiss she was looking for, the anger she needed from him, it didn't work when only he tried to reject her, but now, digging her heels in she could help him get out of her. He'd better not die from this or she was going to kill him. “Oh yea... But I've kept quiet, not turned him into HR for fear that he'd end up like my last boss...” Indignation flickered through him. “ _He_ got what he deserved...” He started and she pressed her finger painfully into his chest. “Oh and you made sure of that didn't you? Suddenly he's in a scandal? Been getting hookers for _decades_! Seeing them right there in the station and no one batted an eye!” He growled back at her. “That wasn't right any you know it!” She hissed at the pain in her mark but pushed forward even as he batted her hand effortlessly away from his mark only to have her jab her finger back into it. Keep him distracted Roxanne, he'll falter and stop if you don't.

“Right, and that has nothing to do with this does it?! It wasn't because he was breaking rules or demeaning other girls... He makes one pass at me, _and of course it just happens to be the same time you come in to snap me up_! You showed up exactly while I'm pushing him away...” He's furious at the memory and she can feel the painful sheering sensation, her wrist going half numb now, like she's actually cutting the flesh off. “I couldn't just _Watch_!?! What kind of... Low life disgusting person would just... WATCH as your boss took _advantage_ of you?!” His hands fling up and he tries to tear her hand away from him again but she presses her knuckles to his mark this time, a small hollow thump sounding up from his ribs when her fist connects. “Everyone! They all turn a blind eye! It's normal! Even you! You're so damn color blind to the whole _fucking_ world that you can't even see how uncomfortable Hal makes me! All the girls at the station... They all knew! No one wants to be the one that makes waves! We're all just saving our own hide! You just don't **get it**!” She's not even sure what she's screeching about anymore, the pain is burning all down her body, it's traveled up her arm and across her chest, engulfing her. A searing, painful headache is crawling up her spine and she feels kind of like her brain is going numb in it's wake. “How **dare** you!” He hisses at her, like she'd just compared him to a child molester or something equally horrible. He's really angry at her, indignation she can't really feel anymore ripples across his whole body.

Roxanne falters as anger slices down onto the last thread of their connection, the last shred of him that she can feel. She's going to miss that, that warmth when he was close or is happy, the gentle press of his worry, even the cold shock of fear that ends up being the last trickle of his emotions she can feel is something she'll cherish now that it's gone. Once this _pain_ passes, the overwhelming agony of emptiness. The iron grip she's had on her emotions slips and falls, shattering into a million sharp edged little pieces around her heart and a sob escapes her. Her perceptions are so slowed now, a void where his emotions once were seems to be slowing her down like cold slows honey. He's grabbed her wrist and is hissing in pain, his palm across the mark on his chest, pressing like he's bleeding from it. He turns her wrist in his hand and the mark, the beautiful, purple mark has turned brackish, the wound on her palm, where the darkest purple once was is black and there's a bit of blood trickling out. She can hear the low keening noise she makes at the pain. She crumples out of his grasp, falling to her knees then rocking forward as she pulls her wrist to her body. Anguish rips out of her throat in a scream followed shortly by the food Minion, so kindly, made sure she ate.

~~

Gone. She was gone and he was left bereft in the absence. Terror flooded him as his mind desperately reached out for that connection. But her presence had fallen away leaving only the black of empty space surrounding him. Again.

Too smart, she's always been too damn smart! She had managed to blind him, managed to keep him so focused on being angry that he didn't notice the burning pain in his chest, ignored it like the pressure she kept putting on the wounding pain of his severing bond. He should have known she would be able to wield emotion like that, like it was a blade, be it a scalpel or a claymore. She was every bit an expert with emotion, every bit that he was a fool in areas of the heart she was a queen. It was her _job_ to be able to make people emote, he'd just never had her wield _his_ emotion so seamlessly. There was a pinprick of time where he was thankful that she'd never truly put her skill to use against him before. Roxanne was gone from his mind, the last of her excised from his soul, leaving his heart withered and broken. Her wrist was blackened with his mark, he didn't really even remember turning her hand to look at the spot where they'd been connected. What he'd been trying to _free her from_. He can't even hear himself hissing in pain.

He didn't want to admit it but he'd been close to giving up, maybe even giving in when he'd come back to his room. Every avenue he'd turned down, everything he found out about himself was that he was _made_ for this mark, this was natural to him, but it added and reconnected neurons, had altered his brain's pathways even if ever so slightly. A copy of her cat scan showed that her brain had also been altered. Chemistry and neural pathways were both altered, while the hospital shrugged it off, he couldn't and he was beginning to wonder if he'd been blinded by fear and self doubt to the easiest answer. Those pathways may well be severed when the bond they had was removed. Because she was human, she wasn't made for that. Now as she was sinking to the floor, falling really, in stunned silence he wondered if, over the course of a pair of weeks, her brain could have become reliant on those paths. He wondered, no he _feared_ , that those paths were now being used for base functionality.

He ripped his shirt aside and his mark had darkened as well, but while painful, it just looked as though the red was bleeding out of it. It was darkening, and he could tell that it was fading to blue. In a few days it would likely just be a slightly off color patch of skin, a faded scar, his... his _only_ scar. Her scream that ended in wretching brought him back to the moment. Minion was crouched with her, holding her shaking body as she emptied everything and anything she had inside her out. “Roxanne...” his own voice was breathy and strangled but he repeated himself with more force, slipping down next to her other side, motioning for Minion to help him carry her much in the position she currently was in so if she found something else to vomit she would be able to expel it without added stress. Together he and Minion pulled her into the medical lab side of the lair, laying her on her side while Megamind hustled around. There was a stillness to her that was worrying, she was slowly going more and more still, Minion tried to keep her awake. “Ma'am? Can you hear me? Please Ma'am! Wiggle your fingers! There we go! How bout the other hand? Please... Oh! Again?” There was desperation to the usually chipper voice as Megamind rushed to run a check up on the woman laying limply on her side. “Sir, please hurry...” Fear lanced through Minion's tone, even as the fish tried to keep his voice even and maybe even chipper. He immediately went back to speaking softly and gently to Roxanne. 

“Fuck.” 

The single word stilled the room. Megamind's worst fears for removing the mark were staring him in the face. Roxanne Ritchie was going into convulsions as her brain tried desperately to right it's self. There was a litany of noises coming from Minion, all of them curses of some kind or type, as he tried to cushion her head stopping her from bashing it on the table but not injure her in his panic. Even under the blinding influence of panic, with something so vital at stake, the pair moved like a well oiled machine. Minion moved his bulk to the head of the bed, helping to keep her head from thrashing into anything, including his hands, Megamind moved around her where he needed to go. Then she went still, eyes open and unfocused, body limp, heart weak. There was nothing, no response to light or sound, she was barely breathing.

“I'm sorry Roxie...” He hissed softly as he reached behind him, stepping up to kneel on the bed with her. In the hospital she'd never gone comatose, she never had a seizure. He moved so fast that he barely even felt what he did. There'd been moments where her body panicked, moments in the car, but he'd gone over her chart time and again. After he dropped her off, there was little other than fluids she was given. There was a scalpel in his hand and he was bleeding from his right wrist. Minion shrilled in panic, the shirt the woman was wearing was moved aside. In the hospital she still responded to pain and light, she had, in all honesty simply been sleeping after he resuscitated her. Now when the scalpel he'd pressed to her chest, ever so gently, slipped into her skin she didn't flinch, didn't move. It was a tiny neat little slice, wouldn't even leave a scar most likely, just enough to make her bleed really. “Please...” he whispered under the panicked noises that Minion was making. She just needed to wake up, he had expedited healing, his body would repair quickly, it was how he was able to kidnap her once a week. While a human might take months to heal from the damage Wayne could dish out, he took days. He just hoped, _prayed_ if he was honest with himself, that she might be granted some small bit of his ability to heal. 

His long fingers just barely wrapped over her shoulder, gripping as much of her as he could as he pressed his bleeding wrist to her chest. When she didn't move he snatched her other wrist, the one with the blackening mark and pressed it to his chest, her skin to his skin, their marks pressing tightly together. There was no sweet flame or humming electric sensation this time. No this was like poison in his veins and he couldn't tell if it was because she was dieing or if it was because he was in a panic. The painful, sluggish feeling that rolled slowly up his arm felt like punishment, like judgment. “What... What did you tell her?! How did she do that?!” Megamind hissed the question at Minion and the fish moved only to breath, his eyes still on the frozen, emotionless mask that Roxanne's face had become. “I... I just told... I told her that you'd tried to break the connection while she was in the hospital...” Minion was petting her hair with the utmost care, so gentle it barely shifted the short spunky locks. Minion doesn't _pet_. He's always touched things to comfort other not himself, doesn't really understand touch the way that mammals do. 

Ever since Roxanne had stumbled into their lives she'd been a _fixture_ in it. As reliable as their plans getting ruined, as inevitable as their escape from prison. Minion liked her, it was part of the reason why it was so hard for him to keep his trap shut around her. This was probably rocking the fish just as hard as it was him, Minion had wanted her to stay. He'd wanted her to have her full mark and be part of their family and he wanted them to be happy, even better if it was together. Maybe if he'd been able to sever the connection, break their bond when it was fresh this wouldn't be happening. Maybe she'd have just... Then she would have been in the hospital and they could have helped her? With the thing they had no idea about the cause of and had listed as “unknown allergic reaction” as if that was helpful. There was a painful prickling sensation in his bleeding wrist as it rose and fell slowly with her labored breaths. Oh yea, he was bleeding and his wrist was trying to stitch it's self closed but it couldn't right yet. Every shift he made and shiver that came over his body as the creeping, vicious feeling crept up his arm and ever so slowly across his chest... it couldn't close. 

He wouldn't pull his wrist away until that terrible feeling reached his heart, then maybe... Megamind couldn't help but pull her limp hand up to his mouth, kissing her knuckles as a small sob escaped him. He pressed the sobs down as he pushed her wrist back against his chest, more out of reflex than intentional action. The cold, cloying, disgusting feeling slid across his back, as though enveloping all of him before it crossed to his heart. It felt like darkness running over his skin as it seeped inward towards where her blackened mark pressed into his chest, death creeping in to claim him perhaps.

There was a gasp and a jolt, like he had been hit by a tazer, electricity canting across his poisoned, cold skin. Pain sunk bone deep into him, from the top of his giant blue head to the soles of his baby seal leather boots... had he been wearing them. His grip on her wrist might have been bruising but his muscles had contracted and there was no letting go now. There was screaming around him and he was sure at least some of it was his own. His jaw unhinged as pain and grief poured out his mouth, eyes squeezed tightly closed and face contorted with the force of what he was feeling. There was a sharp thin pain under all the other pains digging into his chest, just above his mark. Something warm spread there, across his chest, just as slowly as that venomous feeling that had crept in it slipped slowly and painlessly out. He panted over her as his senses slowly came back from the brilliant blinding pain. His wrist still hurt but there was a gentle burning there, like the lick of a candle's flame across his skin. Not that he had enough control of his body to really inspect the situation. 

He was ripped back from her, his limbs flailing out towards her, trying to reach her, trying not to let go of her body. Minion had ripped him back, the metal fingers gripping over his shoulder informed him of that. “ _Let me die with her!_ ” He barely recognized his own voice screaming at Minion while he struggled in his friends grip. “Sir! _SIR! STOP!_ ” The scrabbling, half dressed, blue alien was difficult even for a mechanical ape to hold onto when he really didn't want to be held. “It worked Sir! _It worked!_ ” The frantic hissing voice in his ear made him stop, there was still pain, still a void but it wasn't a vacuum, wasn't emptiness. The tiniest bit of a trickle of emotion came from her, it was agony, an emotion born purely of pain and it was barely there but he had it. Megamind stilled and watched her form, finally seeing the situation. Her breathing was clearing and as Minion let him move forward he could see a tiny bit of purple on her chest through the smeared blood. She was shifted like she'd arched with him as he writhed in pain.

Shock lead him to look at his bloodied wrist, the cut was healing already but along the inside of his arm there were licks of purple, long, thin, angry, and jagged like it was making up for how small the mark on her chest was. “You were breathing together... She was screaming with you... I panicked.. I had to separate you two... I'm sorry...” Long blue fingers slid over her wrist again, he could make out the red from his fingers along the back of her hand and at the sides of her wrist. The mark was still black... mostly black. It looked like a fancy bruise now, a slight yellow cast to the surrounding skin, and there was a slight... Almost blue cast to the black. Her eyes were winced closed but he quickly peeled one eyelid back and she winced... SHE WINCED AT THE LIGHT! Her pupils contracted to protect her optic nerve from the sudden influx of stimuli! She GROANED! 

Megamind had never moved so fast around the lab. In his research he'd very easily found ways to reinforce the mark, chemicals that would make it stronger. He'd been trying to find a way to cut it off and had only frustrated himself by finding ways to encourage the mark's permanency. But was he ever glad of that now! She groaned again, stirring slightly as he rushed about, a small dose of serotonin, endorphins, and cortisol, not enough to hurt her under even the worst circumstances, but enough to help. He even used his favorite injector, a fool proof thing that was similar to the needle free insulin injectors. It'd leave a small, irritated area but at this point, one more small hurt couldn't really do that much more damage. She groaned again, writhing slightly on the table as he watched her, monitors displaying her vitals silently in his peripheral. The tiny trickle of her emotion seemed to open up gradually, like a crack in a dam widening slowly as the wall gave way ever so incrimentally.

“Sir?” The question was waved away as Megamind worked to ensure something only he could really understand out of the medical community was being fostered. Eventually Minion just left and made some food for his evil overlord while the brain bots hovered, taking shifts helping bring things to their daddy. Hours passed, and when Megamind moved into a more restful position Minion brought a cot out and talked the genius alien into laying down while the fish watched over her. The whole of the Evil lair rotated around that medical table for a full 17 hours.

~~

Pain. She was in pain wasn't she? There was a dull throbbing pain all across her body, like she'd been run through the wringer. Roxanne had never been hit by a car but she'd been in a car crash once. It'd been a small one but her whole body had tensed and she'd pulled muscles she didn't even know it was possible to pull being so damn tensed. She sort of likened it to that, she was clearly healing, and whatever had put her in that much pain clearly had been bad. Oh yea. She had rejected the bond. That's why it hurt. She'd reacted violently to it's loss. At least her head didn't hurt so badly now. She peeled her eyes open to the ceiling and glared at the dimmed lights. She heard herself groan. Memories flittered to her like elusive bugs she was trying to catch in a net that had too many rips in it. Megamind screaming in pain was the only one she could really get her hands on. The pure anguish on his face etched it's self in her mind but she couldn't remember when that had happened, or maybe it hadn't and she'd dreamed that. Surely he was happy she was waking up and that she was ok now and that they weren't... She sighed a deep heavy sigh. 

She hadn't ever really wanted to be married. She'd always wanted to be independent. A free spirit. Her desire to keep the bond had thrown her for a bit of a loop. Especially being that the desire had only intensified when she realized it was how one married among his people. Though she knew she'd never hated him, always kinda liked him and found him to be... Well she flirted with him for a reason and it wasn't just to fluster him or pass the time. Though he was so damn cute when he was flustered. She shifted and she heard the soft clearing of Minion's throat. She wanted to look at her mark... or lack there of... but her whole body felt so damn leaden. She rolled her head towards the fish and he gave her a pained little smile. “How are you feeling Ma'am?” Small talk, good ole Minion. “I feel like I've been hit by a truck. It worked didn't it?” Pain flashed hard across the guileless face behind glass. “Yes... It did Miss Ritchie.” She frowned at him, feeling so weak and slightly cold. “Oh C'mon Minion... Not you too... You can keep calling me Ma'am... Unless you don't want to...” There was a sweet kind of smile on his toothy face. “How's Megamind?” She pressed on and there was a new sort of frown on his face, eyebrows pinched questioningly up.

“He's... Ma'am...” Fear lanced up her spine, making her fingers and toes tingle with cold. “Minion...” She hissed at him. “Ma'am he didn't make it... You killed him...” There was hate in that voice, it sounded so wrong from Minion. He gestured over her and she turned the other way, another medical table lay nearby, blue face slack and grayish where it would usually be pink. Eyes vacant and a dripping wound fed a puddle under the alien man who she'd come to realize she loved. The gruesome scene tilted slightly and she couldn't turn away from those dead green eyes. “You did that. You hurt him. You killed him... He screamed until he couldn't scream anymore.” The voice behind her was like ice on her skin as she looked on in terror. The mark on his exposed chest was black and almost seemed to writhe under her gaze.

“Ma'am?!”

“Minion?!” She gasped. She didn't remember turning away from the other cot. Tears spilled out her eyes and he grazed her gently with his mechanical palm, tilting slightly to look more directly into her eyes. “Oh god I didn't mean to!” She sobbed, she kept talking but she couldn't even hear what she was saying. Just apologizing and begging for this to be a lie, for it to be a dream, a terrible nightmare. Some part of her was distantly aware of the metal arms gathering her like she was precious, like she wasn't the worst thing. He pet her back, trying to calm her but the metal was cold and hard even as he did everything he could to gentle himself. She was sobbing so hard she could barely hear, she couldn't think, all she knew was that fear had crawled up her spine and now it seemed to fill the void in her head where his emotions should have been. She cried harder.

Warm leather skimmed up her back. It startled her mid sob but she couldn't stop crying, even with this shocking development. Fear and worry she'd assumed were her own pressed against her as bleary eyes tipped up to look into Minion's sympathetic face. “Roxanne?” A voice all too familiar and the hiss of leather sliding against skin, so warm, long fingered hands could slip along her, covertly checking for injury. The fingers were delicate with concern and oh so warm, so blissfully _warm_. As they slid over the little bit of clothes she was wearing she could feel his heat. Concern so gentle and familiar wrapped around her like a down comforter in winter. Eyes wide with realization, what she'd seen must have been a dream, Roxie pushed back on Minion who happily eased his grip. The back of her right hand slammed into his chest as she held the wrist up to where she could inspect it. Black! Her mark was black but... it didn't seem to be that necrotic black it had been before, black with a sickening green under it, black like puss and death. No this was bruise black, still not a healthy color but it was fading gently. She let out a small whimper at the blackened mark. “Did... Did it work?” 

She'd been so sure that it'd worked, that she'd cut herself loose and done the thing he was so desperate to do. Even as it's loss it killed her inside, even as it tore her heart to bits like a paper cut out. “Yes, but...” His voice slid across her and trepidation, frustration, fear tainted the concern she felt from him. She could tell now it was from him. “How? How can I... I still...” She didn't dare turn around, even as she could feel and hear him the thought of turning around to his corpse was too much. Warm hands gripped her shoulders and she could feel him lean his chest against her back. He'd pulled himself up onto the bed she'd been laying on. Wrapped her in his arms and she could feel him all around her. She couldn't meet Minion's eyes, couldn't turn to see Megamind as his chin rested on her shoulder His right hand, slid along the back of her arm. He supported her hand like it was a baby's head. “You started... You had a seizure, and went comatose.” He continued to hold her arm out, his legs on either side of her hips, one knee up, the other leg laying down and curling under her slightly raised knees. His other, long, covered arm snaked around and he touched her mark with such reverence that a wave of grief and hope mixed uncomfortably in her. 

“You nearly had a brain hemorrhage... severing our bond caused you to suffer severe neurological trauma.” She could feel his emotions but it was like they were... smaller. They didn't take up so much of her mind space even if they could be enveloping. “How'd you fix me?” She questioned gently when he went still and silent while she felt regret pool in her mind from him. That regret was so bitter it felt like bile in her throat. He didn't answer her, just squeezed her, not releasing her wrist as he wrapped her in his arms, pressing her right arm to her chest. After a long moment like that he finally let go of her wrist and held his arm out, using his gloved left hand to pull the sleeve up his right arm. She couldn't help but gasp at the remains of a slit across his wrist. Her first instinct hissed out of her mouth even as she realized the question was stupid. “Are we dead?!” Megamind went still as a statue and Minion... Minion giggled. A low rumbling chuckle bubbled up from behind her and he wound her in his arms again, his now bare arm that looked like he'd gone out and gotten a very angry purple tribal tattoo on his arm. She could feel, while faint, the tell tale tingle of his mark being close to hers but the feeling spread across her chest under the shirt she still wore. 

Roxanne gasped and gripped the back of his hand now. Jolting his arm to where she could see the inside of his wrist. Down his long thin arms was a long, thin purple mark. It ran down his arm in angry sharp, dripping spires, like the reflection of a castle. The longest spike of it reached half way down his long thin arm and she ran her fingers over the skin in shock. “You... The bond.... It's back? You... You did... What? How?” She wanted to know, she wanted to know everything and she could feel a trickle of his joy flowing into her mind like the rays of a summer sunrise. “I... Just did what comes naturally to me. When we touch our marks there's a... an electrical feeling? That's not just a euphemism, having had time and a clear head to study the mark, it's actually neurons firing electrical impulses towards the other mark... you can feel it because they have... They're particularly potent. So there's... an actual electrical current between us... but it was hurting you because your body hadn't fully adapted to it, you were actually getting.... overcharged? You had too much charge and no way to disperse it, where as... I was able to diffuse the excess energy through my body. It's really quite fascinating...”

Trembling she pulled at her shirt, pulling it aside so she could see her chest. Just over her heart was a tiny, purple bruise looking thing. Probably no bigger than her thumb print, a fat little mark, almost like a tiny, fat starfish, the round spot had uneven little legs that splayed out in an almost twisting pattern. “Why... Why do they look like that?” She questioned and she could feel him smile into the side of her neck. “Well... And I'm just guessing here... Because you were dieing.” A sharp worried little laugh left her and he explained. “When we... When the doom Engine exploded we were both high on adrenaline. Our hearts beating fairly close to the same speed. But this time I was... Well I wasn't calm... and you were the worst kind of calm. Best I can guess is your blood raced through my veins at a break neck pace, while mine pooled, your heart rate was lethargic at best.” There was a shocked titter of laughter out of her. “Wait, the great Megamind is guessing?” He nodded his head on her shoulder. “Oh yes, _Laugh_ it up Mrs Ritchie. But I have no intentions of finding out what exactly is going on.” She growled softly at him calling her by her last name.

“ _What_... Did I tell you?” She growled and his hands slipped, almost nervously, to rub her legs in a placating sort of way. “Not to call you _Miss_ Ritchie. And I didn't...” Finally she turned to look at him, glaring daggers into him. His big green eyes didn't meet her, he just looked down at his hands on her. “I called you _Misses_ Ritchie... I know I don't really... Fully comprehend human naming conventions but... I don't have a Sir Name... So... There's no real reason to change...” There was slow dawning in her mind. Something that was confirmed when he glanced up at her, eyes pleading and emotions matching. “You don't... I mean... I won't... _Demand_ anything of you. I won't _ever_ demand anything of you... But... I hoped...” Sugar sweet love of this adorable dorky alien welled up in her throat as he explained himself. She was never going to be Mrs Megamind, It didn't really make sense, but she could still be a Mrs... She could be his Mrs and he could be her Mr, and they were bonded...

“Yes.” She hissed at him, fierce affection lanced his worry and confusion. “What?” He questioned, in his shock and she twisted in his arms, slipping her arms around him. “You want me to be your Misses. Yes. I will be your... Whatever... Bond mate, Lover, Wife. Whatever it is you're asking, Yes. I'm yours.” She'd never seen nor felt such joy in her whole life. He pried her back from him, looking into her face. “You... You will? YOU WILL!?” She nodded tearfully at him then thumped him in the chest, sliding her hand under shirt she found the right patch of skin without having to look. She pressed her palm over his heart, feeling his warm skin and the precious thump of his heart. Tentative fingers slid under the collar of her shirt and across her collar bone, he hesitated for just a moment then pressed his long, gnarled mark to her small, fat one while she pressed her wrist into his chest.

The connection licked across her, making her gasp and throw her head back before curling in towards him. It wasn't as strong, much like his emotions, it was like warm water lapping at her ankles, not an overwhelming bank of clouds. Minion was clapping metal hands together happily and spinning circles in his tank. The connection wasn't nearly so taxing for her, in fact she kind of missed the intensity of the way it was. He'd pressed his forehead to hers and as they broke apart she lunged for his lips earning a nearly bruising kiss from her... Lover. She was going to go with lover for now. She had all the time in the world to work out if he was asking to be her husband, lover was enough for the moment. Now was a time for thrilled noises while the pair lost themselves in each other.

 

Reality has this lovely ability to just... _Crash the party_ at the most inopportune times. Much like Wayne Scott. His full name should have been Wayne “Reality” Scott. Roxanne was probably the happiest she'd ever been in her entire life. Megamind was wrapped around her, Minion had fled the room under some pretense to give them privacy, now they were disheveled at best and down right indecent at worst. He was half out of his jumpsuit, the shirt she'd been wearing for entirely too long was barely being held together across her body by a pair of buttons. Roxanne was silently glad that while her panties were on the other side of the room there was a body covering that particular bit of her nudity. True testament to how screwy her life was that she didn't shriek at the sight of a big man walking in on her while she was as undressed as this. She wasn't quite ready for Megamind to clutch her covetously to his chest and hiss angrily at Metro Man, the tidal wave of possessive rage was a bit of a shock too, she'd expected more embarrassment. Her mouth popped off more out of irritation at being interupted than anything else. “God Fucking Dammit...” She grumbled as Wayne's eyebrows shot up in shock at was he was witnessing. “What nefarious plan is _THIS_ part of?! Death by embarrassment?! Didn't we establish this won't work already? Yea, that “Martha” plot back in school...” 

“Really? You tried to kill him with embarrassment?” His rage ebbed slightly at her voice, her amusement curled outward pointedly, maybe if he could see the funny side of this? The low growling noise remained even as Megamind spoke to her, his eyes not leaving their interloper. “It took me quite some time to learn what an idiom is... There is no e-vil plot, and as you can _clearly_ see, you're not the one in danger of dieing of embarrassment Metromahn.” Roxanne grinned and nuzzled up into his neck making the blue alien shudder, his eyes fluttering as the minx teased him gently. “ _Roxanne please..._ ” The harsh whisper of a response was lanced with lust and frustration. She looked coyly up at Wayne from her position, curling her fingers into Megamind's back and tracing his spine languidly. She pointedly curled her legs around the thin hips helping to keep what was left of her dignity. Wayne coughed and pointedly turned his eyes away, she'd never seen the big guy blush before. 

“Roxie... Are you... Are you ok? Is anything wrong?” Roxanne couldn't help but giggle slightly before purring into the tense blue throat that her face was still pressed against. She relished the way the alien man wanted her, how powerful she felt that she could make him feel that much lust with a simple twist and warm breath. “ _Yea_ something's wrong... Someone's interrupting my fun.” Ok so maybe this wasn't the best way to address the situation but she was feeling rebellious, almost drunk on her power. She'd always had a bit of a sideline role in their little game and oh was it fun to be the one altering the course of actions, she was in the driver seat of this embarrassment train rather than just a rider. Wayne coughed again, louder and with a grimace this time. “You left the hospital... I've been looking for you for days and days.” Megamind glowered, trying to gesture with a hand that was wrapped around the woman in his arms without letting go of her. “Thirty one hours.” 

Red faced, Wayne turned back to the tangle of limbs, and you could see the moment he regretted that snap of his eyes. “What?” His eyes quickly diverting to the top of Megamind's large blue head. “Roxanne's been out of the hospital for about thirty one hours.” Roxanne rolled her eyes at him as she eased back down onto the padding below them, buttoning up as many of her buttons as she could. Let the boys have their contest, she wasn't going to get her fun now, and the regretful frustration from the body on top of her could have been flet even without the bond. “'Days and days' is at minimum four days and she hasn't even been out of the hospital for a full three days.” His breath caught and he looked down at her as she smirked up at him, having squeezed him with her thighs. Well she got his attention didn't she? “Either Minion or Wayne needs to get me a sheet if we're going to have this conversation right now. My legs are getting cold.” A flush ran over both males faces. 

The question was abrupt, launched like the first grape in a food fight. “What... Happened to your chest little guy?” Megamind collapsed on top of her, heaving a heavy sigh and earning a soft gentle coo from his pillow. “Would you believe me if I said it was a scar?” He questioned into Roxanne's bust and she started laughing, gently petting his head where it lay on her. “You... You've never scared before....” The timid observation led to a frown on the blue face, he turned the frown on the hero. The brunette cocked her head at their interloper as a sheet floated down over her legs, giving them what she'd asked for but now confusion flooded the pair, mixing in an uneasy tide.

“Wait...” Roxanne recovered first while Megamind processed the information he was just given. His incredulous question continued as she pulled the sheet up over them to give them cover to do what needed to be done. “You noticed that I don't scar?!” She helped him get his jumpsuit back up over his shoulders so that he didn't feel quite so exposed and then they rearranged so she could wrap the blanket around her and keep herself decent. With a nod she slid the blanket between them and Wayne chattered along. “It's kinda... Well I mean... I try not to be... too violent with you anymore... But... I mean you used to get pretty hurt...” The timid admission brought Roxanne out of the playful minx mood she had been in. He was right, Megamind did used to get hurt a lot more.

“And I remember you... Complaining about that surgery... Mid plot.” There was a slightly defeated look on Megamind's face and Roxie could feel the different favors of unease he radiated, as if somehow this was his fault. She was turned to him and he wasn't meeting her eyes. It filled her with worry as Wayne continued. “Yea, don't you remember Roxie? He was groanin' about how the stitches were so crap that he was able to pick them out with his nails... and that the tracking device had aided him in his escape... it was a pretty gnarly cut. I actually... I stepped in after that plot. Don't think even the warden knew what those guys did to him until it was too late. Just... As bad as it was I'm glad they wanted me there in case he woke up... I wouldn't have known how bad it was if they hadn't...” Embarrassment washed her from him again and he just barely glanced at her while Wayne divulged secrets. This was all news to Roxanne and the wisps of tentative disbelief from him made her feel all the worse. “Wait... Someone put a tracking device.... INSIDE of you?!” Wayne recoiled but seemed to be trying to confirm what she was fearing. Megamind frowned at her, a slightly lost look on his face. “You were there for that next fight Roxanne...” He disbelief thick enough to cut and she thought back to so many years ago. “I thought we were talking like... Micro chip... Not... Like... _tracking device_ tracking device... And kids pick their stitches out all the time! I didn't think the two were...”

Wayne pipped up ever so helpfully. “No it was as big as _my_ fist... and they put it up in his ribs... It was sickening... The only reason I didn't destroy it right when I saw them put it in him was because I didn't know it was a tracking device... He was pretty beat up... I thought it was maybe... A pace maker... I don't know that kinda stuff...” Megamind made a hissing noise at the hero as Roxanne was starting to feel woozy. An image all too much like the one from her nightmare floated through her mind at the description she was getting. “Oh my god... Oh my _god_! Why didn't you say something?!” Megamind shrugged, shame floating from him again. “I did...” She reached out to him and stabilized herself on the alien man's shoulder. She needed to breath, she needed to get this out of her head... “Woah! Roxie's got it too?!” Wayne gestured to her wrist which she pulled to herself quickly. “Wait... Is that what's making her ok with all'a this? Did you tattoo her with something? That doesn't really sound like you... it's kinda... subtle...” Roxanne growled softly, looking at her lover. His indignation spiked again, but it was backed by something like hate and loathing. She redirected him with a sigh. “Ok, I see why you are always trying to kill him... but seriously... Can you two like... Stop that now?” She slipped in close and he smiled softly at her, malevolent feelings slipping away until none remained, wrapping her in his arms, his green eyes warm. “For you? Anything.” Wayne spoke again and both rolled their eyes when he did so. “Oh.. So... It backfired and now you control him right Roxie? Only... Why would you...”

“Oh for fuck sake Wayne!” She snapped and hitched the blanket around herself, Minion was watching cautiously from the shadows as she stomped away. She was a cloud of frustration speaking over her shoulder at first. “I'm going to put some pants on. Do you think you can explain this to him?” She shuddered at the sensation of moving further away from Megamind but stopped at the door just to see if he had anything to say. He was trying to pull his shirt back on, a brain bot waiting to zip it up in the back. “I mean I could try but... It's just going to sound like an evil plot coming from me? And it's going to sound like I'm manipulating you coming from you...” His words were accompanied by explanatory gestures and cool, composed, resignation. She groaned but they both knew it was true. “Ok, so you're just going to have to take our word for this. We're a thing now. I'm not being held against my will and there's nothing shady going on... Just that whole... Doom engine thing that Ended before it started? It ended up with us being blood bonded. Story reads: after some soul searching Megamind is planning on giving up villainy for me. Think you can handle that Metro man?” The look of dumbstruck confusion she walked away from left her annoyed, she was friends with Wayne, if he couldn't accept this... Oh this was going to be damn difficult.

“You did what?” The low, flat, annoyed sound of Wayne's voice brought the blue head up towards him. “I didn't do anything... At least not intentionally.” This time Wayne sat down heavily as he rubbed his face with both hands. “Ok, Okokokay... So you've accidentally... What? How does “bonded” make you want to give up villainy? Can you even do that?” Megamind shrugged, rubbing his cheek as his mark throbbed for the first time on his wrist, leaving him to smile softly then he rub it comfortingly through his sleeve. “Well... Roxanne accidentally initiated the bond cutting herself on a piece of metal that was sticking out of my chest. When our blood mingled... it marked us both... And... Now we can feel what the other emotes...” The explanation was short, inaccurate and entirely true. “As for giving up villainy? Why not? I only chose villainy because of you... because I was always a screw up. You were always saving people from me even when I wasn't trying to put anyone in danger... and I just embraced it. But Roxanne deserves better than a two bit villain who gets nearly killed or arrested once a week.” Wayne sighed heavily, looking like he was having to shoot a dog as he watched his nemesis. “What about all the life sentences? You know I can't just... ignore what you've done...” Megamind nodded but smirked. “Interesting and possibly related fact... Did you realize that I was wrongfully imprisoned from eight days old until I actually escaped the first time? Oh and that there is a precedent for expunging the records of villains who turn heros?” There was an odd little glint to the hero's eye when that last bit came out. Like a slow dawning and a wicked grin all in one.

“Are you offering to become a hero?” Green eyes looked longingly over towards the door. A blue eyed woman with short spunky hair and a smirk that could tear him to pieces was walking back towards them. She was speaking with his oldest friend excitedly about who knew what... honestly with how Minion's hands were going it was probably clothes... Her eyes raised and met his. He could feel the swell of happiness from her, no fear or frustration, just, happy. This wasn't going to be easy, nothing was ever handed to him that he couldn't screw up. But if she was willing to fight him like she had been, to fight for _them_ like she'd fought him, he could do this. He had a reason to do it.

“Yea, I think I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the whole Metro Man bit was supposed to be the light hearted, silly "Oh haha, lets make Metro Man uncomfortable, that'll be funny!" Epilogue... it ended up being the "Ok so we're gonna have some laughs then do a nasty tone shift because Lynn's mean." I hope it wasn't too jarring.

**Author's Note:**

> So I know this is going to be very very hit or miss, especially chapter size wise and I didn't write this with breaks in it, I'm just breaking it at relatively reasonable spots...
> 
> If you're enjoying it, Well... YAY! Lemme know?


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